


A Bird You Must Not Miss

by vindice



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Bullying, F/M, Female Sawada Tsunayoshi, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Spitefic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-04-01
Packaged: 2019-12-30 09:03:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18312467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vindice/pseuds/vindice
Summary: It is with a startling realization that she comes to this conclusion.In which Tsuna reaches her breaking point, and changes schools.





	A Bird You Must Not Miss

**Author's Note:**

> Months ago, this idea came into my room in the middle of the night and punched me in the gut.
> 
> Note that this is a spitefic, so there will be multiple bashing, most certainly towards the ones that appear but aren’t mentioned in the tags. So, if you’re sensitive to that kind of thing... suit yourself.
> 
> Overall, this is a Tsuna-centric, alternate universe R27 fic, and it is my mission to make it as wholesome and as self-indulgent as I want. There is no permanent angst.

Tsuna bites her lip harshly, hoping that if she can do it long enough the lightning striking her limbs will disappear.

She has to get up. Hibari-senpai will be there any second now, and he will bite her to death if she doesn’t move. If he doesn’t beat her when he sees her dirty uniform and torn socks, he will most certainly do it for causing a commotion right in front of the gates and disrupting the school peace just before classes begin.

She has to get up, but her hands and knees sting, and she’s almost sure her ankle is twisted. Everything feels so sluggish. There is laughter ringing in her ears, past the rush of blood pumping loudly, and she’s frozen while the world goes on in slow motion.

Everyone around her stands there and _watches_ how she’s still on all fours after they pulled her back by her bag and pushed her to the ground, and _nobody helps her._

No one ever does.

She wants to cry. She wants to curl up on herself. She wants to scream at them, to demand an explanation as to why they keep being so mean to her, when she barely causes them any trouble without them going out of their way to cause _her_ trouble, without fearing they will lash out back at her because they think she doesn’t have the right to ask those things. She wants to–

She wants to _leave._

It is with a startling realization that she comes to this conclusion.

_Why_ hasn’t she left yet?

It never occurred to her. Tsuna can’t believe it never occurred to her. She knows for a fact there are other schools in the prefecture; everyday she sees that brown-haired girl, with her neat dark uniform and bright red bow on her way to Midori Middle, and even Kokuyo is close enough if she wakes up early and uses the half-an-hour head start she spends avoiding her bullies on a daily basis.

The sob that was slowly making its way out of her mouth gets stuck on her throat with a hitched breath, and her eyes snap wide open. The realization feels like a dream and a little like hope at the reach of her fingertips, something she thought she had lost long ago.

That’s all the motivation she needs to stand up on shaky legs, wincing when the pain strikes again. But when she looks up to face her peers she makes sure her expression is carefully collected, something that hasn’t ever happened before. Soon the crowd realizes it too, because Dame-Tsuna isn’t reacting the way she always does, what’s going on?

Her eyes are watery, but not a single tear slides down her cheeks. She’s not going to give them the satisfaction of seeing her cry ever again, if she can help it.

As she’s about to turn on her heels, she sees the girls standing near the entrance. If looks could kill, Mochida-senpai would be long dead from the way Kurokawa-san is glaring holes at him, _danger danger danger_ coming off in waves to the point those near her take a step back.

Kyouko– no, _Sasagawa-san–_ is looking at everyone else with disappointment, and in another time that would have been Tsuna’s sliver of hope, but right now it makes her skin itch and her tongue taste bile at the back of her throat. Sasagawa-san is looking at them as if they have personally offended her, as if _she_ was the one who had been on the ground not a moment before instead of Tsuna.

What a joke. As if anyone would ever dare to touch even a hair of the golden girl.

She turns around and comes face to face with Yamamoto-kun’s unexpectedly blank expression, his empty, cheerful smile nowhere to be found. The only reason she doesn’t squeak, startled like she usually would be, is because there’s something numbing that settled over her while she had been gathering her strength. Similar to an emotional wall weaving in her core, and she knows it won’t last, she can feel it, but at the moment it’s making her feel as if she were underwater, peacefully drifting away.

_Is this what’s missing?_ She wonders. _Is it normal?_ She’s not sure. Perhaps it isn’t a bad thing, if whatever Yamamoto-kun finds on her expression makes his own falter almost unnoticeably.

She ignores the way his gaze wanders across her face, how his eyes seem to narrow for a fleeting second when he looks her in the eye, no doubt pinpointing the unshed tears. As if Tsuna’s comfort had any value to him.

It’s a shame, really. That all three of them are suddenly acting like this, just as Tsuna’s already made her decision. When it doesn’t matter anymore.

She walks past him in slow but calm steps, and the crowd, too shocked for this turn of events, parts to let her pass.

Tsuna doesn’t look back.

The walk home isn’t too long, but with the discomfort her foot causes it takes a bit more. She’s carefully dusted off her hands and rolled down her socks to hide the torn part, and while resting on a sidewalk she’s also used the water bottle she always keeps in her backpack to clean her legs and splash some on her face. With the sunny weather it passes as if she’s been trying to keep at bay the heat, even this early in the morning.

Two streets before reaching the bridge connecting the main roads, the ones that lead to either the shopping district or the suburbs, she feels eyes following her. It makes her tense a little, because–

“Oya,” a familiar voice calls out. “You seem to be having a bit of trouble walking, Sawada-chan. Is something the matter?”

Tsuna breathes out slowly. “Not now, Rokudou-san.”

“Rokudou-san?” Mukuro chuckles. “That bad of a morning? It must be, for you to be skipping school. What would your mother say?”

The mention of her mother makes her flinch, and Mukuro’s face sobers almost unnoticeably.

She’s only known Mukuro for a couple of weeks now, but ever since she ran into him he’s tried to rile her up one way or another. Her mother’s been brought up a few times as offhand comments, nothing serious, but she’s never reacted to them other than huffing or ignoring him when he uses them. Tsuna barely ever blinks at the mentions of her anymore, not after years of teachers calling her mother for even the slightest reason to punish her, and even though Mukuro doesn’t know that, he’s really perceptive. Of course he’d pick up on her change of attitude no matter how small it is, based on what he’s seen so far.

“Hm?” Mukuro frowns, though his ever present smirk stays in place. He walks until he’s standing just a few feet away. “Sweet Sawada-chan’s having a bad time? Bet your teachers didn’t even interfere-”

Tsuna knows Mukuro’s intention isn’t to upset her, not really. He’s not even trying to tease her, more likely aiming to get her to talk about it by pointing out the flaws on her soon to be old educational system, something he usually does ever since she saw him wearing the Kokuyo uniform. But the mocking tilt of his tone, the one he _always_ uses in all his conversations, is like picking at the still bleeding wound — _too close to home, after having been just mocked at not even less than an hour ago_ — and right now she’s like an injured wolf, ready to strike back at whoever gets in the way even if they’re not the enemy.

With a small, wounded sound she’ll probably be ashamed of later in the day, Tsuna bares her teeth a little and turns on her heels to hide the effect his words are having on her.

_You’re not going to cry!_ Tsuna chides herself before picking up the pace, ignoring Mukuro’s call. Her ankle is definitely twisted, but Tsuna grits her teeth and tells herself to suck it up as she walks away.

It’s not until she’s on the corner of her street that she blinks and snaps out of it, not having even noticed she had spaced out to begin with.

Funny what bullying does to someone. Her feet had taken her straight to her house, body acting out in automatic, long used to endless quests trying to get away from someone chasing after her.

On the wire just outside her portal, there is a small bird that chirps when she’s about to close the gate. It’s black and blue and white, small, and Tsuna thinks it’s pretty.

She can also swear it looks down _directly_ at her, before it starts preening at its wings.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a review on your way out! (*´∇｀ʃƪ*)♡


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